Saturday, May 26, 2012

Cinderella's Graduation Dress

School has ended and I am so happy that summer is here. Not for the weather, it gets unbearably hot here, but because there is no homework, minimal schedule, and lots of play time.

My daughter graduated from 6th grade this week. She told me late last weekend that she needed a pretty, new dress for her graduation ceremony. I guess all the talk of the school among the girls had been about what they were wearing to graduation. My daughter usually doesn't really care how she dresses, as long as it's comfortable, but it was clear that for this night it was all about the look. I took her shopping for a new dress every spare moment we had, but nothing worked out. She is almost 12 and seems to be right in between girl sizes and women sizes. She had decided to just figure something out from her closet of Sunday clothes. And I decided I would try to sew something, as a surprise, to add to the selection to choose from. I didn't consult with her, but I had a pretty good idea of what she liked from the hours of shopping we had done. I ran across the Sis Boom Jamie Dress while searching for ideas and decided to give it a try. Sewing it up without trying it on her in the process made me a little nervous. I left the hem unfinished just in case. She came home from school and tried it on.... and loved it. Phew!

I ended up sewing the smallest size, 0-2. I used the smaller bust option and added about 1/2 inch to the waist. I also took out almost all of the fullness from the skirt and pressed the gathers to make it more trim. I used a contrasting fabric for the waist band. Even though it doesn't wrap around to the back, I really like how it turned out. I also should add that the pattern was great and very easy to follow.

After she tried it on we found that the shoulder straps needed to be shortened and the elastic in the neckline cinched up a bit. These adjustments were made lickety split and it was hemmed and ready to wear that evening in no time.

She gave me hug at the end of the night and thanked me for making her beautiful dress and helping make her night wonderful. I felt a little bit like Cinderella's fairy Godmother might have felt whipping her up something fancy for the ball. And what a cute Cinderella she is. I'm so proud of this girl!